ENOLA, Pa. – The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) has developed Sexual Violence in the Military: A Guide for Civilian Advocates and an infographic that explain the pervasiveness of military sexual assault. Sexual violence transcends boundaries across the military and general populations. According to U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, nearly 26,000 (12,000 women and 14,000 men) serving in the U.S. military experienced some form of unwanted sexual contact in 2012.[1] According to the Department of Defense’s annual report, 3,374 sexual assaults were reported in the same time frame.[2]

“Culture change is essential for the military services to improve how they address sexual assault. I served as the Civilian Deputy Co-Chair of the Department of Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services. In 2009, I visited installations in Iraq, Kuwait, South Korea and Italy, and bases in Alaska,Texas and North Carolina and other continental U.S. installations to assess the response to sexual assault. We saw opportunities to cultivate change. As a result, the task force presented a report to Congress and made recommendations on how the military can improve services to victims of sexual assault in the armed forces and eliminate sexual violence,” said Delilah Rumburg, CEO of NSVRC and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape.

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